UAE open to cooperation on oil price, says Minister of Energy

UAE oil minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said on Wednesday that the country’s oil policy was open to cooperation with all producers toward the mutual interest of market stability. Mr Al Mazrouei made the comments in a tweet. He also said the UAE was optimistic about the future. He did not say anything more specific about […]

UAE oil minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said on Wednesday that the country’s oil policy was open to cooperation with all producers toward the mutual interest of market stability.

Mr Al Mazrouei made the comments in a tweet. He also said the UAE was optimistic about the future.

He did not say anything more specific about a proposal for oil producers to freeze output at January levels in order to prop up prices. The proposal was made on Tuesday by Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela.

Mr Al-Mazrouei, who gave a keynote address at the 2016 CIS Global Business Forum in Dubai, mentioned low oil prices in passing in his speech, but did not comment further on a proposed cap to crude oil production agreed to by the four oil-producing countries during a meeting the day before in Qatar.

Whether the Doha plan is enough to put a floor under prices is uncertain. The proposal depends on cooperation from a range of producers, including Iran, which is eager to ramp up its exports now that sanctions related to its nuclear programme have been lifted.

A barrel of benchmark New York crude fell 40 cents to close at $29.04 in New York on Tuesday. A barrel of Brent, the international standard, fell $1.21 to $32.18.